The conundrum is that of accountability. While the District Attorney’s Office is an elected position accountable to the taxpayers, the City Attorney is not an elected position, accountable only to the Council. Question is, “Is this a scenario ripe for abuse?” This is a department that was just found to be seeking outside legal services with no contracts and no approval from our Council, that ended up costing taxpayers millions.

The Riverside City Council’s decision to place a proposed City Charter amendment on the ballot was simple. The council believed there was merit to the idea of allowing the Riverside City Attorney the power to prosecute Misdemeanor violations that occur within the City of Riverside. Putting the issue directly before the voters makes sense. Because ultimately they must decide if a Charter amendment is to be approved or denied.

We can debate the merits of the proposal all day long, but at the end of the day it comes down to this: Is it worth doing or not.? Are we better off having the City Attorney’s office handling Misdemeanors or keeping things the way they are – with the County District Attorney handling all crimes? If so, put it to the voters. Let them decide.

This debate should not be about personalities. It’s not about District Attorney Mike Hestrin or City Attorney Gary Geuss. It’s about Riverside. It’s about the people of Riverside. Should we enhance or build upon what the District Attorney’s office currently provides to us, or should we keep what we have?

Every day, councilmembers field concerns from residents and business owners complaining about everyday quality of life issues such as panhandling, street thugs, homeless, prostitution, graffiti, vandalism and more. We have pushed our police department to do more and more to combat these concerns. They counter back to us that many of these cases are not being prosecuted. They have provided written proof of these claims.

Our cops are getting discouraged. They work hard, write lengthy reports, only to have the case rejected, pled to a lesser charge or other disposition simply because there is just not enough Deputy District Attorneys to handle the huge caseloads. How discouraging is that?

It’s not District Attorney Mike Hestrin’s fault. He’s elected and tasked with running the District Attorney’s office, but there is a catch. The County CEO sets Mr. Hestrin’s budget and the County Board of Supervisors approves that budget. In the end, Mr. Hestrin must do all he can to stretch that allotted money. Typically, it starts with prosecuting the serious Felonies, then the lesser Felonies. After the Felonies, the prosecution of serious Misdemeanors and finally, the lesser Misdemeanors.

He does a great job with what limited resources he’s given.

The Deputy DA’s work hard and are often underpaid. They work long hours and have high caseloads.

Funds are limited. Riverside County is yet again reporting money problems, cuts are on the way including furloughs and layoffs. This will severely impact the DA’s office and their ability to adequately cover the county’s needs and the needs of the many cities within the county. Even if county revenues were to increase, there are many higher priority needs the county must work on. First is increasing jail space, along with the current plans to expand the County Medical Center and more.

The City of Riverside is not unhappy with the DA’s office. We understand what obstacles our District Attorney faces. We simply hope to have the power – as a Charter City – to enhance what the D.A.’s office does. We are looking at our quality of life needs now, 5 years out and 20 years from now.

The City Council is simply offering a proposal to the people as a direct response to resident’s demands that we do more to curb the negative issues and problems facing our city each day.

This proposal will cost money to implement. Is it worth the investment? It’s up to the voters to decide. More information will be provided at upcoming community meetings and on ballot statements.

If the people of Riverside believe the City Prosecutor Program is the answer to the problems they complain about, they will pass the Charter amendment. If they don’t believe this will help, then it won’t pass. It’s that simple.

This is nothing revolutionary – many cities in California prosecute their own city’s Misdemeanors. It just hasn’t been done in Riverside County yet. So far, most seem very satisfied with their City Prosecutor Programs. These programs have been in place for many decades. Cities like Los Angeles, Anaheim, Pasadena, Glendale, Burbank, Santa Monica and many others.

The city’s plan for a Neighborhood Prosecutor Program calls for having city attorney prosecutors working closely with our police officers and detectives. Finding solutions to problems and doing what it takes to best mitigate those problems. Not just prosecution and jail, but getting to the root of the problems.

This is something the District Attorney’s office can’t adequately provide due to limited funding imposed by the county. There are just too many cities competing for the same level of prosecution of their Misdemeanor cases as we would like to have in Riverside.

Having our own city prosecutors allows Riverside the ability to focus on those crimes and issues that affect us each day. These are problems that hurt Riverside’s ability to recruit and keep businesses here. These problems affect our property values and our everyday way of life.

Our resident’s have demanded we tackle these issues to the best of our ability. We have this tool available for us to use. It’s up to our residents to choose if they want to pay for this tool and use it to the maximum benefit of those living and investing in Riverside.

CITY OF RIVERSIDE: NEEDS MO’ MONEY…. WILL THE CITY ATTORNEY’S OFFICE BE BROKERS OF WHITE COLLAR CRIME UNDER THE GUISE OF THE HOMELESS AND PANHANDLING? VOTE NO TO GROWING EVEN BIGGER GOVERNMENT AND THE CONTINUATION OF ABUSE IN THE CITY ATTORNEY’S OFFICE.

Most likely in June, the voters of Riverside will be decide by ballot measure whether to add a new government-run program to City Hall’s ever-expanding arsenal. It will be called something like the Neighborhood Law Corp (NLC) under the City Attorney’s Office. Mr. City Attorney, Gary Geuss, stated the Neighborhood Law Corp program will cost the taxpayers $2.5 million, while our District Attorney, Mike Hestrin, says more like $5 million. Geuss geusstimates $750,000 to $1 million in fines and fees will go back into the city’s coffers per year. I believe it will bring in closer to 2 million, if not more. And where will this money come from? Residents and businesses, but of course.

If you go to any of the community meetings that address this new program, the message coming from City Hall is, “your altruistic government will have more CONTROL over the homeless, panhandling, and prostitution.” Well … common sense will tell you that the homeless and panhandlers are not going to be paying a cool million in fines and fees. So where will it come from? You guessed it – from us! The real CONTROL will be over whomever can pay the fines.

Another real concern we have with this program, is that we are growing our government at an unsustainable rate. We will be adding 17 new employees, 12 of whom will be Lawyers, as part of the NLC Program. We already have 13 Attorneys, this will take us to a grand total of 25 Attorneys hired by the city of Riverside.

Mr. City Attorney, Gary Geuss, came here from the City of L.A. They have 4 million residents and 16 attorneys that handle their “Neighborhood Program”, or one attorney per 250,000 citizens. Riverside wants 12 Attorneys, and that would be 1 attorney per 25,000 Citizens. In L.A. up until 2014, they only had 4 Attorneys on this program, that’s one attorney for 1 million citizens. In Oakland, California, where our very clever City Manager, John Russo, hatched this program in 2002, they have three Attorneys for about 400,300 Citizens. That’s one Attorney for 133,000 Citizens. I just don’t get it. In fact, like all too often in the good ole’ River City, perhaps the real reason they want to hire more attorneys has just not been revealed to us.

City Councilman, Mike Soubirous, Mike Gardner, Chris MacArthur, and Jim Perry all voted YES to place the city prosecutor measure on the June 2016 ballot. Paul Davis said he wanted this program eventually, but voted NO; John Burnard wanted to increase the Police Department, so he also voted NO; Andy Melendrez just said NO, but the vote passed and unless some last minute deal is reached with the D.A., this sucker’s going to the people (at a nice tidy cost of $80k just to put it on the ballot) to decide.

At the Council meeting it was brought up by Raincross Group man-about-town, Tom Evans, that the City wasn’t even following their own Charter and that the Council should form a Charter Review Committee and vet this issue with the public. Once the committee finds consensus on the best way to go about implementing a city prosecutor’s office, they make a recommendation to the Council “to ask” the voters for final approval. The Council decided to ignore that option (hey, I thought they valued public input? Lol.)

There have been a total of two hours that I’m aware of spent informing the public on this very important issue. I have attended two community meetings and one City Council meeting when the issue of changing the Charter to take prosecutorial powers for misdemeanors away from the District Attorney’s office, and give them to the City Attorney’s office. At the community meetings I attended, this was hailed as a Neighborhood Law Corp. program and will address livability issues as the homeless, pan handling and prostitution. At the City Council meeting, the message changed a bit. It seems the city of Riverside also wants to be the power brokers for white collar crime, code enforcement cases, bad landlords, liquor stores, seedy businesses, unruly bars and restaurants, and or anything else they can think of. Is this the start of more legal abuses in the city of Riverside City Attorney’s office? If history is any predictor of the future…ABSOLUTELY!

At the February City Council meeting where the vote took place, there was a diverse group in attendance: the local activists, the whistleblower employees, a representative from the District Attorney’s Office, the League of Women Voters, the Raincross Group, and a couple of Chamber of Commerce members. With a group like that there is almost always disagreement, but with this vote everyone was opposed – it was almost unanimous. That evening 95% of the public said NO! The City Council voted to approve the ballot measure against all the concerns of the public.

I also feel it’s important to add that the District Attorney of Riverside County is an elected position, whereby this person is directly accountable to the public. The City Attorney, whom City staff and elected want to usurp the D.A. is an appointed position, who is only accountable to the City Council. Is the public set up for abuse? Who will the public go to if there is a grievance? How do you replace 4 of the 7 members of the Council if you don’t like the way our City Attorney uses his new prosecutorial powers? You can’t, and that’s a big problem. Our personal liberties are being threatened.

Now you have to ask yourself, is our honeymooning City Manager, John Russo, just running the city of Riverside on autopilot. He brings us the Sunshine Ordinance, the 2-year Budget, and our new favorite Assistant City Manager Alex Nguyen (absolutely fabulous honey), and now the Neighborhood Law Corp. Let’s take a look at June 8th, 2011, article “Russo’s Next Big Challenge”:

“Russo also is seeking to make Alameda’s city government more user-friendly, a task he’ll delegate to Alex Nguyen, who will follow him over from Oakland. Nguyen headed Russo’s Neighborhood Law Corps, a groundbreaking program that allowed Oakland residents to access his office to solve quality-of-life issues, taking on slum lords, liquor stores, and other blight. Russo, however, was quick to say that people won’t always be happy with the solutions he proposes for Alameda. ‘Real decisions mean real disappointments,’ he warned”

Queue later photo of the drama behind this program in Oakland. The public is ANGRY over potential fraud in the Neighborhood Law Corp program:

Who is really behind this new Neighborhood Law Corp. program? City Attorney Geuss stated this program was A#1, top of the list, king of the hill, A nummmmmber ooooooooone, top priority of the Council. In fact, Geuss stated he was instructed by our electeds to begin implementing this program immediately after he was hired. We wonder why the public and press just found out about it if it was so important and being worked on for almost a year?

So, how did City Manager Russo’s and his trusty sidekick, Nguyen’s foray into prosecuting the public work out after being implemented in Oakland in 2002? They spent way too much money and created a firestorm of D R A M A. There was so much drama that it was a distraction to the City and to the Office of the City Attorney. All we need is more controversy. Was this program the real reason Mr. Russo left the city of Oakland? Maybe. This program may be nothing new to our City Manager or or City Attorney, but I believe the residents and business owners in the city of Riverside have had enough drama for a lifetime.

To hopefully shut the door on the whole idea of a city prosecutor’s office, I point out that City Attorney Geuss continually compares our city to the city of Anaheim, who has an appointed City Prosector. So let’s take a look at these similarities:

Anaheim Prosecution Program 10 Attorneys Sometimes up to 15 Attorneys depending on the cases. I was told of these figures today by the Anaheim prosecutors office.

City of Riverside Prosecution Program wants 12 Attorneys

Apples to apples – Anaheim vs. Riverside – and I say there is NO comparison. Anaheim is unique from all other communities. The comparisons coming from our City Attorney is political rhetoric, and that is why the public is so concerned with this program. Common sense will tell you there is more to the story! (But they ain’t telling you what…you’ll find out later). VOTE NO.

TMC, RATED RIVERSIDE’S REGIONAL COUNTIES MOST, “NEGATIVE,” “RAUNCHY,” “LOW CLASS,” “VISIONS OF GRANDEUR,” “FULL OF B.S.,” “IGNORANT,” “MISGUIDED,” “BULLYISH,” “FILTHY,” “SICK,” “PERVERTED,” “DEFAMATORY,” “STUPID,” “PATHETIC,” “DESPICABLE,” “DISAPPOINTING,” “BELOW THE BELT,” “A NEW LOW,” “SHOCKING,” “OFFENSIVE,” “INAPPROPRIATE,” “HURTFUL,” “MEAN SPIRITED,” “DISTASTEFUL,” “EMBARRASSING,” HORIFFIC,” “SLANDEROUS” “FIT TO BE VIEWED FROM THE REAR” AND MEZZSPELLED, “MISSPELLED” AND “OPINIONATED” BLOG SITE! YES WE ADMIT WE OUR ALL OF THAT AND MORE, WHICH IN CURRENT TERMS IS KNOWN AS “UNPOLITICALLY CORRECT.” TEMPORARILY BLOCKED BY THE CITY OF RIVERSIDE AT PUBLIC ACCESS SITES WITHIN THE CITY, THEN UNBLOCKED. I GUESS YOU CANNOT DO THAT ACCORDING TO THE ACLU. RATED ONETWO ONE STAR OUT OF FIVE IN TERMS OF COMMUNITY APPROVAL RATINGS.. … AGAIN, THANK YOU COMMUNITY OF RIVERSIDE AND THE CITY OF RIVERSIDE EMPLOYEE’S FOR YOUR SUPPORT!

Newly christened District Attorney Mike Hestrin, A.K.A. Superman, Clark Kent (also the underground A.K.A. name of “Hestrone”, because he is the man), layed out his plan for change with reference to rebuilding the DA’s office, as he was quoted as saying, “Brick by painful brick.” We see a new turn of events whereby Hestrin will take the bull by the horns and remold the DA’s office in what many have said is in needed change. Change in the sense that makes sense. He states that now only will he be tough on crime, but he plans to concentrate on crime prevention. Now what does that mean?

Hestrin is in charge of approximately 250 lawyers and 100 investigators. He has an new expectation for his staff to volunteer their time in order to be more closely connected to the community. Therefore he expects his lawyers and investigators to volunteer their time and expertise to community programs. Not as a punishment, but as I see it, extending their responsibilities as DA’s etc. to actually resolving and mitigating the crime problem once and individual is released from prison. By this, Hestrin’s intention is to prevent recidivism. This would be done by keeping individuals from going back to their communities and associating with criminal elements. If they associate with positive and constructive individual, he believes this would help individuals not going back to a life of crime. The way I see it is that if you want to truly lower crime rates you have to have a 360 degree plan. Hestrin is making such an attempt.

He is not only asking his staff to volunteer their time to community programs, but to make the attempt to start new community programs. So he is asking not only to prosecute, but go a step forward to connect to the community. One of the questions he would ask in the promotion process would be “what have you done for the community to decrease crime.” This is takes the DA’s office to a different level and bring it full circle, a 360 degree plan. DA’s and investigators will not only be responsible for fighting crime, but finding solutions to decrease crime, and most importantly, crime due to recidivism.

FORMER BB&K ATTORNEY LETITIA PEPPER SENDS EMAIL JANUARY 16TH TO CITY OF RIVERSIDE DEMANDING THAT THE CITY OF RIVERSIDE COMPLY WITH THE RALPH M. BROWN ACT PROVISIONS ABOUT ASSIGNING ISSUES TO THE CONSENT CALENDER.. Pepper states that the method the City has adopted for assigning issues to the consent calender violates the Ralph M. Brown Act provisions.

Pepper therefore demands on behalf of all residents of the City of Riverside, that: (1) the contents of all future Consent Calendars for City Council meetings be set, as required by law, at an open, public City Council meeting,; (2) that such Consent Calendar be set by the City Council as a whole, rather than by the Mayor and the City Manager and Assistant City Manager; (3) that the public be given the appropriate opportunity to make public comments objecting to an item being placed on the Consent Calendar before the City Council votes on the make-up of such calendar.

CLICK ON IMAGE TO VIEW FULL EMAIL

UPDATE: On January 18th, Attorney Pepper sent out an addendum letter to her first letter, regarding the demand that the City comply with the Ralp M. Brown Act provisions about assigning issues to the consent calender. Within this letter Pepper makes the connection that she believes that their is circumstantial evidence that prior Council member Don Betro was involved in a broad based conspiracy, along with other former elects and city executives such as City Attorney Gregory Priamos, Mayor Loveridge, City Manager Brad Hudson, CFO Paul Sundeen and Assistant City Manager Michael Beck, to pillage the City’s, or taxpayers finances.

CLICK ON IMAGE TO VIEW FULL LETTER

IS THE GREATER RIVERSIDE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE MAKING MONEY ON A PUBLIC EVENT? It has been brought to TMC’s attention that the yearly public event known as the Annual State of the City, may be just a campaign fund raising event, which appears to tell the public to not come! This should be advertised as a free even since it is a public event. Why has it appeared to be taken over by a non-profit, the Greater Riverside Chamber of Commerce? They are asking that there is a charge of $50.00 per ticket, there is nothing to state that the public can come or attain free tickets. The truth of the matter is that the Chamber has a total of 650 tickets, 50 of those are free general public tickets and 600 are being sold

It also appears that Public Utilities is paying for advertisement on this site. There was controversy last year when $500,000.00 of taxpayer monies was to be set aside to the Chamber to coordinate the Keep Riverside Clean and Beautiful Program, without the bidding process. TMC wants the same deal, we will gladly advertise Public Utilities for $24,999.00 right under the maximum amount Public Utilities Manager Girish Balachandran can cut a check for.

CLICK IMAGE TO ENLARGE (figure one)

It appears that the taxpayer funds the Chamber, even through Public Utilities, but the public is not even publicly invited to this event. Is this what the Chamber has done a ruse or front for raising campaign funds for their “go along get along” candidates? To be fair the PE did mention their would be a limited number of “free seats available.” Really now, doesn’t that just want to make the public not want to go or even attempt to compete for these limited number of free seats?

Again questions arise if employees of the City, as former Public Utility General Manager Dave Wright, should be on the Chamber board. Curently, Riverside Public Utilities General Manager Girish Balachandran, is on the board of the Greater Riverside Chamber of Commerce, and Taxpayer monies are cut from this General Manager to the Chamber as seen in this advertisement (figure one). Unbelievable… Conflict of Interest, or Culture of Corruption?

Incidentally, Cindy Roth is the CFO/President of the Chamber who’s husband Richard D. Roth is now Senator for the State of California, and has been a recipient of taxpayer monies for doing the City’s dirty work, as many in the community have said, though are afraid to state their opinion for fear of retaliation by the City Department Agencies or even RPD. Sorry folks, I’m only the messenger.. But many are told when calling the Chamber that the limited number of free seat are for the “General Public” which must be seated in the back of the event. I say, the “Elite Public” can pay for a taxpayer event, but the rest, “General Public” sit in the back of the bus.. Quite fitting as January 19th is Martin Luther Kings Birthday.

DON’T WE HAVE A STATUE OF MARTIN LUTHER KING IN FRONT OF RIVERSIDE HALL?

The question is why would anyone want to do business or even live in the City of Riverside when they don’t even feel safe by the Police Department or even that they can make a living under the duress of many rules and regulation by the City which makes it difficult to doing real business.

Opps, Jeff Stone not in the picture anymore, he took his bat to the Senate.

TMC, RATED RIVERSIDE’S MOST “OFFENSIVE,” “INAPPROPRIATE,” “HURTFUL,” “MEAN SPIRITED,” “DISTASTEFUL,” “EMBARRASSING,” HORIFFIC,” “SLANDEROUS” AND MEZZSPELLED, “MISSPELLED” AND “OPINIONATED” BLOG SITE! TEMPORARILY BLOCKED BY THE CITY OF RIVERSIDE AT PUBLIC ACCESS SITES WITHIN THE CITY, THEN UNBLOCKED. I GUESS YOU CANNOT DO THAT ACCORDING TO THE ACLU. RATED ONETWO ONE STAR OUT OF FIVE IN TERMS OF COMMUNITY APPROVAL RATINGS.. TMC IS NOW EXCLUSIVLY EXCLUSIVELY ON FILE WITH THE COUNTY OF RIVERSIDE’S DISTRICT ATTORNEY’S OFFICE (WE BELIEVE THIS WILL END SOON, SINCE THE FOCUS IS NOW ON THE IMPROPRIETIES OF MR. “Z”, WE TRIED TO TELL YOU, BUT NOBODY LISTENED), AND DON’T FORGET WE ARE PROSSIBLY POSSIBLY ON FILE WITH THE CITY OF RIVERSIDE’S POTENTIAL SLAPP SUIT LIST… A STRATEGIC LEGAL MANEUVER THAT CAN BE DONE ONLY IN RIVERSIDE WITHOUT A CONTRACT… AGAIN, THANK-YOU COMMUNITY OF RIVERSIDE AND THE CITY OF RIVERSIDE EMPLOYEE’S FOR YOUR SUPPORT! COMMENTS ALWAYS WELCOMED, ESPECIALLY SPELL CHECKERS! WE JUST CAN’T SPELL! EMAIL ANONYMOUSLY WITH YOUR DIRT BY CONTACTING US AT: THIRTYMILESCORRUPTION@HOTMAIL.COM

Does the famiglia buy loyalty in the realms of the press? The County lists it’s legal filings with the Press Enterprise (PE) – which of course, keeps ’em afloat money-wise. The County could use other newspapers – most in the County – even the little one’s are certified by the court for legal filings. But the county pays the PE (sometimes 3 times the cost) the high end legal “ad’s” pricing. Many of these little local “rags” charge a third of what the PE charges. Could it be that John Tavaglione (JT) buys loyalty?….Is Tavaglione behind the PE not hitting hard, with reference to media events? Could this scenario explain how he’s protecting his boy Mayor Bailey? Mayor Bailey being a former staffer of John Tavaglione, and interesting enough, also worked for Congressman Ken Calvert, who didn’t hold back when it came to his voracious appetite for female street walkers. Rumors in the grapevine continue to connect Calvert with local hotels and hookers. Don’t quote me on that, these are alleged rumors. Of course, Calvert and Tavaglione are friends.

These two have been seen associating with Western Municipal Water Board of Director, Don Galleano and of course Riverside’s own, Councilman Steve Adams in many local watering holes. The “dangerous liaisons” appear publicly clear, but what does this all mean?

Well, first, it is no surprise that Riverside County Supervisors support Councilman Adam’s run for Congress, and of course, Michael Williams directing his fundraising campaign. But why is that? Councilman Adams has the most ethics complaints filed against him, but of course through a Council admitted flawed process, appears to always result in a favorable outcome. But when you view the network of individuals involved in the political process or, as I call it, the “Machine,” it is no surprise that Riverside County Supervisors support Councilman Adam’s run for Congress.

So what is the connection or relationship between the PE and the City of Riverside? We do know they received preferential electric rates at one time. Would this be a gift of public funds since the residents of Riverside had to pay more for electricity of a utility they publicly own? So, if Adams is seen conversing with Ronald Redfern , former CEO and Publisher of the Press Enterprise, what kind of message does this send to his community? Or could this be construed as meaning anything when it came to City politics? We give you this recent political article by non other than Councilman Steve Adams in the PE. Is the fact that this article received exposure in the PE directly due with who you know? Is this a free campaign ad given to Steve? Why is Steve on board with the PE as a contributing writer? The County of Riverside under the direction of Tavaglione purchased the Press Enterprise building…coincidence? Former PE CEO and Publisher Ronald Redfern is incidentally now Chairman of the Board for the Greater Riverside Chamber of Commerce. We also see that Cindy Roth is involved, who’s husband is now Congressman Senator Roth, who did outside legal work for the City of Riverside.. and of course, Roth’s legal work never directly impacted the taxpayer’s with a positive benefit! Not surprising.. But what was Cindy Roth’s position of going to each council member to, as Rodney King would say, “Can’t we just get along..” when tension escalated with council members. Who is Cindy Roth and why doe she appear to have some sort of influence on elected officials? Was she worried about her taxpayer handout?

I think John Tavaglione is the reason behind the PE not hitting hard on issues that are important to the community. His connection to the PE is uncanny. Is he’s protecting his Boy Bailey (the current Mayor, William Rusty Bailey) – no doubt in my mind. The PE appears to cave to the supes – especially when we know that JT is the “leader” of the Supes. We must not forget the Inland Empire Political Fundraiser Icon, Michael Williams – often referred to as the only real game in town, is an ally of JT. It has been purported that Tavaglione owns the building that Williams resides and rents office space from. Would that be some sort of red flag? I would think so. So if John Tavaglione does not approve of a candidate or a particular measure, can we say that Mike won’t do the political fundraising? If this is true, does someone have to kiss the “Godfather’s” ring to get approval and show ones loyalty? The Michael Williams Company client list appears to be quite telling. Made up of the “usual suspects” with a particular commonality. Not hard to see a diffused political leaning as we would imagine.

What causes the political chaos or the stagnation of someone attempting to do good for the community? Would it be who you know? Has one person become so powerful that one nervously jumps at the drop of a pen when asked to do a favor? A possible favor to maintain status quo? Of course, in the sense of JT’s boy Bailey the appearance of not being status qou would not be acceptable..

(RPOA) Riverside Police Officer’s Association, President Brian Smith is a friend of John Tavaglione. He who controls RPOA campaign funds, as Smith – can often control some Council Members, as what we have seen with such graduates of RPOA in Riverside, as Chris Lanzillo. The “control” has been seen in the “Soubirous Hearing.” .. known as “The Soubirous Hearing Debacle,” that Smith was a part of. But the whole agenda just appeared to “blow back” on their original plan. Was this all about the “Cop Play Book?” Further, JT also toppled longtime Riverside Sheriff’s Association (RSA) President Pat McNamara. Former County Supervisor Bob Buster one stated, “RSA is the single biggest political force in Riverside County.” Well, not anymore. RSA President Robert Masson, supported by Big John, toppled McNamara two years ago and now controls the very large PAC fund built up during the McNamara years. Since John Tavaglione (JT) controls Masson, he now controls the RSA Political Action Committee. The PAC funds are rumored to be half a million or more. Big money – huge control. Val Hill, who claims to be a good friend of JT, reportedly was recruited by him to run for Riverside City Council last year. Let’s see, RPOA (strongly influenced by JT) supported a longtime friend of JT – she certainly would have fully supported Bailey and company.

From a residents point of view Val Hill certainly didn’t appear to know the issues, well to put it bluntly, didn’t really know jack shit! Not to mention the shit load of money to support her campaign that didn’t pan out except for the broken sewer pipes. So, JT, a County supe, strongly influenced Brad Hudson, who was a former County Employee prior to moving over to Riverside City. His “mini-me” DeSantis, came from the County as well. And we know Priamos needed an “exit stage left” when the poop hit the fan over the Soubirious “investigation” flop, and had a soft landing with a County job. All John Tavaglione?…. I would bet on it! If this is all true or somewhat true, how could John became so powerful as a simple public servant? Is he really there to represent the taxpayer? Or does his organizations true objective lie elsewhere? Benefiting …. ?

Great work justice league! I know who John Aki is and in my estimation he has always been a straight up guy. I wish the best for him in his lawsuit. I will post his lawsuit and details. Thanks again for your insight and information. Agreed..why this news isn’t in the Press Enterprise, I just cannot understand. It may be why they blocked me from commenting, but their are many more who have contacted me complaining about being blocked by the Press Enterprise. Is the Press Enterprise a real newspaper? Or is it bought and paid for as many politicians are? I believe the next posting may have some answers. I look forward to your comments. – Thirty Miles

UPDATE: MAYOR WILLIAM “RUSTY” BAILEY SERVED RECALL PAPERS AT TUESDAYS CITY COUNCIL MEETING! MORE TO COME…

TMC, RATED RIVERSIDE’S MOST “SLANDEROUS” AND MEZZSPELLED, “MISSPELLED” AND “OPINIONATED” BLOG SITE! TEMPORARILY BLOCKED BY THE CITY OF RIVERSIDE AT PUBLIC ACCESS SITES WITHIN THE CITY, THEN UNBLOCKED. I GUESS YOU CANNOT DO THAT ACCORDING TO THE ACLU. RATED ONETWO ONE STAR OUT OF FIVE IN TERMS OF COMMUNITY APPROVAL RATINGS.. TMC IS NOW EXCLUSIVLY EXCLUSIVELY ON FILE WITH THE COUNTY OF RIVERSIDE’S DISTRICT ATTORNEY’S OFFICE (WE BELIEVE THIS WILL END SOON, SINCE THE FOCUS IS NOW ON THE IMPROPRIETIES OF MR. “Z”, WE TRIED TO TELL YOU, BUT NOBODY LISTENED), AND DON’T FORGET WE ARE PROSSIBLY POSSIBLY ON FILE WITH THE CITY OF RIVERSIDE’S POTENTIAL SLAPP SUIT LIST… A STRATEGIC LEGAL MANEUVER THAT CAN BE DONE ONLY IN RIVERSIDE WITHOUT A CONTRACT, WE WILL HAVE TO ASK GREGORY ABOUT THAT ONE ( OUR PEOPLE WILL HAVE TO CONTACT HIS PEOPLE)… AGAIN, THANK-YOU COMMUNITY OF RIVERSIDE AND THE CITY OF RIVERSIDE EMPLOYEE’S FOR YOUR SUPPORT! COMMENTS ALWAYS WELCOMED, ESPECIALLY SPELL CHECKERS! WE JUST CAN’T SPELL! EMAIL ANONYMOUSLY WITH YOUR DIRT BY CONTACTING US AT: THIRTYMILESCORRUPTION@HOTMAIL.COM

According to Scott Simpson, the city test as the well source and after the water treatment. Not all wells have treatment systems directly connected. Some wells don’t test “clean” but are blended into higher quality sources and then tested. They could do tap water testing in different neighborhoods that are getting water from known sources and treatment equipment. Averaging the system data can hide a high contaminant neighborhood from scrutiny. You have to remember that they report only the passing test results. If a test fails for a contaminant, they can retest. If they consistently get failing retest they have to report to the state health department and put a notice of the test result in our monthly billing.

Scott Simpson was former Chief of Enforcement for the California EPA Department of Toxic Substances Control, and also worked for the Department of Food and Agriculture in their Environmental Hazards Assessment Program specializing in ground water contamination.

My concern as I was reading the City of Riverside’s Annual Water Quality Report for 2012 was the high levels of Chromium VI in the water supply. According to the report, the State of California’s Public Health Goal (PHG) or Maximum Contaminant Level Goal (MCLG) is 0.02 parts per billion (ppb). The City of Riverside’s testing results are reporting an average of 2.2 ppb, while their reportable range is between 1.6 to 2.3 ppb!

MAYOR MAKES AN EXCEPTION FOR SPEAKING OVER THE 3 MINUTE MARK: BY 3.04 MINUTES: MAYOR TO MAYOR OF COURSE. QUESTION IS, WHO’S MAYOR? At a March 18, 2014 City Council Meeting during public speaking, the Mayor went to thepodium, and began his 3 minutes. When the 3 minutes were up, and the buzzard when off, an interesting cascade of event presented itself. No one was arrested, but former Mayor Ron Loveridge went on to speak an additional 3.04 minutes. It now becomes obvious that we have a culture and leadership of elitist, who are self serving. self serving for those that fit the familial criteria in Riverside.

MAYOR BAILEY: Oh, oh..…we sticking to 3 minutes per speaker this evening? (The mayor ask the former mayor the question, as if asking for permission).
FORMER MAYOR: We could, (Laughter from the crowd) this is my first and probably last time you see me at a council meeting, ahhh……
MAYOR BAILEY: I gotta stick to the three minutes per speaker, perhaps, put another speaker card in ..… (former mayor interrupts).
FORMER MAYOR LOVERIDGE: Naah…I don’t want to do that Rusty! I did come.. particularly ..I did want to read a letter from my brother..he’s been my mentor in Viet Nam.. He fought in Vietnam.. He was a combat lieutenant in Da Nang, there were five people killed in his platoon. I would like to read to you a letter from my brother and then I will exit.. (Rusty interrupts).
MAYOR BAILEY: “I think we can accept that..” (Rusty at this point, makes a unique exception to the rule).
FORMER MAYOR LOVERIDGE: “Forty nine years ago….” (Mayor Loveridge continues on reading the letter for another 3:04 minutes.)

What kind of message does this send to the community? Are there two categories of people who live in the City of Riverside? Could we allege, the ones who have it, and those who don’t, and we treat them accordingly? We go on to ask the question since, since there were two nonsensical arrest for two nonsensical events which will only cost the taxpayer a mint because of appears simple ego. The first event was for going over the 3 minute rule for public speaker Karen Wright by seconds ending in her arrest, the case was dismissed, and the second, for applause clapping, which a Federal law suit has been filed for the later Attorney Letitia Pepper. I would imagine the city may also expect one by the first. Those who actually heard the report of a public speaker being arrested going over the 3 minute under Mayor Ron Loveridge, not only gained the attention at the local level, but gained attention within the international community. The very person who felt he should be the exception. We could only imagine what would have occurred if independent voice, Mayor Bailey stood his ground and call the next public speaker, without thanking the first, possibly leaving former Mayor Loveridge stoneface. But this reflects on Mayor Loveridge who should have known the rules on public speaking with his experience level of over 19 years, but knowingly disregarded the rule that everyone must abide by, even allowing the arrest of one who allegedly violated it. He certainly didn’t care about placing the current Mayor in this awkward position of endorsing the breaking of rule. It’s a two way sword, Mayor Bailey now has a vote of no confidence in the community. Power is a funny thing, he states he wants fairness, but treats the community differently and accordingly at his will.

WHAT PEOPLE DON’T GET..THIS IS RIVERSIDE..WE ARE AN ANOMALY IN THE WESTERN WORLD..

I know a lot of people who have letters from their brothers, and if this is an acceptable exception, I know they will ask for the same treatment as former Mayor Loveridge at the next City Council meeting. This I can’t wait for, because I have a wonderful letter from my brother that I would like to read!

NEW DA PAUL ZELLERBACH POLITICAL MAILER SENT OUT BY THE COMMITTEE TO ELECT MIKE HESTRIN FOR DA:

CLICK ON IMAGES TO ENLARGE

CLICK IMAGE TO ENLARGE (ARTWORK BY DONALD GALLEGOS) THANK-YOU DON!

TMC, RATED RIVERSIDE’S MOST “SLANDEROUS” AND MEZZSPELLED, “MISSPELLED” AND “OPINIONATED” BLOG SITE! TEMPORARILY BLOCKED BY THE CITY OF RIVERSIDE AT PUBLIC ACCESS SITES WITHIN THE CITY, THEN UNBLOCKED. I GUESS YOU CANNOT DO THAT ACCORDING TO ACLU. NOW TAGGED LOCAL BLOGGERS OR LOCAL MEDIA? RATED ONETWO ONE STAR OUT OF FIVE IN TERMS OF COMMUNITY APPROVAL RATINGS.. TMC IS NOW EXCLUSIVELY ON FILE WITH THE COUNTY OF RIVERSIDE’S DISTRICT ATTORNEY’S OFFICE (WE BELIEVE THIS WILL END SOON, SINCE THE FOCUS IS NOW ON THE IMPROPRIETIES OF MR. “Z”), AND PROSSIBLY POSSIBLY ON FILE WITH THE CITY OF RIVERSIDE’S POTENTIAL SLAPP SUIT LIST… WE WILL HAVE TO ASK GREGORY ABOUT THAT ONE ( OUR PEOPLE WILL HAVE TO CONTACT HIS PEOPLE)… AGAIN, THANK-YOU COMMUNITY OF RIVERSIDE AND THE CITY OF RIVERSIDE EMPLOYEE’S FOR YOUR SUPPORT! COMMENTS ALWAYS WELCOMED, ESPECIALLY SPELL CHECKERS! EMAIL ANONYMOUSLY WITH YOUR DIRT OR FOR CONTACT! THIRTYMILESCORRUPTION@HOTMAIL.COM

“When a City employee with a gun and a badge makes these statements it is the worst kind of intimidation and bullying…”

John Brandriff, a Ward 7 Council candidate back in 2011 and who also served on the City’s Community Police Review Commission (CPRC), tells his story of his verbal exchange with Chief Sergio Diaz, which didn’t end copacetically. As a result, a complaint was filed against Diaz, and sent to City Manager Scott Barber for review. Below is that letter.

According to the complaint letter, Chief Diaz’s expression of disdain stemmed from public comments made at a CPRC meeting in February of this year. At this meeting Brandriff expressed his disappointment of the Chiefs lack of participation in the Mental Health/Police forum that was conducted at Bobby Bonds Park. The actual comment was taken from audio at the CPRC meeting, it is as follows:

..as I said before, hopefully you guys will get a better response from the Chief than the forum did. There were probably 10 or 12 different organizations from all over this City, and from L.A. and out of the County. And, he (Diaz) didn’t really deemed it necessary when invited, to come and offer up anything to the community. It was was hugely disappointing for me. I just thought that there was more community involvement than that..

After expressing this comment, Brandriff states he was “nodded” outside by Assistant Chief Vicino who expressed his concerns of the statement he just made. Listen to the actual CPRC audio of the comment by clicking the below link, (comment begins approximately around the 20.00 minute mark).

What happened next at the Fox Theater only surmised to Brandriff that the conversation he had with Vicino was shared with Diaz. What you read next is verbatum from Brandriff’s complaint letter:

I would like to relay an incident that happened to me Sunday night March 9th 2014 at the Fox Theater. My wife and I arrived with Councilmember Davis and his wife to attend the showing of “West Side Story”. Shortly after going inside we saw the Chief of Police, Sergio Diaz, and proceeded to say hello. Councilmember Davis was in front of me and talked to the Chief first. When I went to shake hands with the Chief he pulled me closer and stated that should I ever have any concerns about the way he runs his department that I “should grow some balls and talk to him”. I responded that I thought discussing some of the issues would be a good idea and that if he had time next week we could get together, it was then that I realized the Chief was very agitated because his response was very abrupt and curt when he said “oh I’ll make the time”. By this time the rest of my party was starting up the stairs to our seats and I asked Chief Diaz if there was a specific number or person to contact to arrange the meeting he then reached in his pocket, obviously angry and shoved his card at me while moving closer and said “If you have any more political aspirations don’t make an enemy out of me”.

The letter below is the response from City Manager Scot Barber to John Brandriff, which assured him that the Human Resource Department did a full investigation, and that Barber will take appropriate action in accordance with related rules and policies.

There have been other incidents on record, one with public speaker Karen Wright when she spoke out at public comment on the naming of El Tequesquite Park to Bonaminio Park. Another incident occurred with community activist Christina Duran, where she was seated next to County Supervisor Bob Buster who witnessed the whole Diaz exchange. Another confrontation occurred with “Five Before Midnight” blogger Mary Shelton at a ACLU event. At this event he (Diaz) confront Shelton, and ask the question, “What are you doing here? Who allowed you to come to this forum?” An ACLU representative had to intervene to actually smooth over Diaz’s aggressive questioning. Some are simply calling him a “drama queen.” Many resident/taxpayers are asking the question of why he hasn’t been fired by City Manager Scott Barber? Is he not representing the interest of the taxpayer because he has obligations that superside the taxpaer? There are many more that, whom were asked not to be revealed, for fear of City and RPD retaliation, but we are even hearing of events occurring in Los Angeles which involve Diaz that are disturbing. Again, this is the legacy of former City Manager Brad Hudson, the current City Attorney Gregory Priamos and the former Mayor Ron Loveridge. Even TMC was drawn in to Diaz’s questionable behavior by a comment we made. This email came from to us stating that Diaz wanted to meet with us, not to talk about how to make the community better, but because of a comment made. The following is an email sent to TMC back in 2011.

CLICK IMAGE TO ENLARGE EMAIL

Sorry, we had to redact to protect individuals from possible retaliation by RPD or other City Officials … after all as most residents understand, this is Riverside…

What Diaz doesn’t get, is that the Community of Riverside also felt slighted when he stated that some of the critics are “sitting at home eating Cheetos in their underwear.” In addition, he stated in the PE, “It’s a challenging job,” Diaz told me. “It’s not a job for people who prefer to be in their mommy’s basement commenting on news stories.” Well alrighty Chiefy, we get it… Yes Myrah, we see you signaling that the bag is empty! Let’s break out a fresh bag of Cheetos.. By the way, was that underwear custom tailored? Yes the Chief is very handsome and very married, please don’t use 911 to call him again!

“Respect for the community, respect for other officers, respect for ourselves is going to be the byword by which I will attempt to lead the city of Riverside over the next few years,” he said. “Out of respect comes every other good quality that we strive for in a police department and police officer.” – Riverside Police Chief Sergio Diaz

“Without freedom of thought, there can be no such thing as wisdom; and no such thing as public liberty without freedom of speech.” — Benjamin Franklin

So what we’ve seen, is a Chief or Police out of control. He is obviously not community orientated, as he was originally hired to heal the city, whereby, he has only been confrontational, intimidating and threatening to the residents and citizens of the City of Riverside. Even the RPD officers are questioning his abilities and qualifications. After all, he was hired by a former City Manager who had a record of credit card fraud! I believe it was still okay with the City of Riverside. But if you have the same qualifications and challenge the city, you will be destroyed.

According to Pepper’s attorney, Jason Thompson, said Mayor Bailey’s animus towards Ms.Pepper appeared to have grown after she wrote in defense of people, which the Mayor had “dressed-down” during the earlier June council meeting. In her letter written to him two weeks before she was arrested for applauding, Pepper addressed the Mayor’s approval of some people and regular attacks on others. During the earlier council meeting, video footage shows Mayor Bailey telling certain citizens they were not allowed to applaud. However, a review of the same footage shows Bailey regularly allowing applause by people he clearly favors. In her letter, Pepper referred to Mayor Bailey’s selective approval and disapproval of citizens writing that the city council had become “so emboldened that it thinks it can treat audience members differently because of who they are.” Pepper continued that approval based on whether a citizen agrees with the position of the Mayor or council members violates the First Amendment. No arrests or warnings for applause on issues Mayor Bailey supported or of people he favors were made during the June 11 or June 25 meetings.

Pepper, who previously worked at Best, Best & Kreiger, a law firm that has represented multiple cities in lawsuits against seriously ill and disabled medical marijuana patients, began advocating on behalf of those citizens after she herself was diagnosed with a terminal illness. Papers filed in federal court by Pepper allege that anti-patient Riverside Mayor William “Rusty” Bailey was retaliating against Pepper in-part because of his long-time dislike for people prescribed medical marijuana and because Pepper had written a letter to him after he’d threatened citizens who applauded during a June 11 council meeting. According to Pepper’s attorney, Jason Thompson, Riverside has been one of the most aggressive opponents of medical marijuana in California. Thompson explained that, despite passage of the state’s 1996 Compassionate Use Act, in May, 2013, with the help of law firm Best, Best & Kreiger, the city prevailed against a group of patients forcing them to leave the City. After winning the decision against patients, Mayor Bailey announced the city had won a “major victory” in its fight against patients. At the same time, the city announced it was shutting-down all remaining patient collectives. Thompson said that although marijuana reduces the size of cancer tumors according to the federal government’s National Cancer Institute, the City has effectively prevented thousands of its disabled and seriously ill citizens from accessing medicine.

TMC, RATED RIVERSIDE’S MOST “SLANDEROUS” AND MEZZSPELLED, “MISSPELLED” AND “OPINIONATED” BLOG SITE! TEMPORARILY BLOCKED BY THE CITY OF RIVERSIDE AT PUBLIC ACCESS SITES WITHIN THE CITY, THEN UNBLOCKED. I GUESS YOU CANNOT DO THAT ACCORDING TO ACLU. NOW TAGGED LOCAL BLOGGERS OR LOCAL MEDIA? RATED ONETWO ONE STAR OUT OF FIVE IN TERMS OF COMMUNITY APPROVAL RATINGS.. TMC IS NOW EXCLUSIVELY ON FILE WITH THE COUNTY OF RIVERSIDE’S DISTRICT ATTORNEY’S OFFICE, AND PROSSIBLY POSSIBLY ON FILE WITH THE CITY OF RIVERSIDE’S POTENTIAL SLAPP SUIT LIST… WE WILL HAVE TO ASK GREGORY ABOUT THAT ONE ( OUR PEOPLE WILL HAVE TO CONTACT HIS PEOPLE)… AGAIN, THANK-YOU COMMUNITY OF RIVERSIDE AND THE CITY OF RIVERSIDE EMPLOYEE’S FOR YOUR SUPPORT! COMMENTS ALWAYS WELCOMED, ESPECIALLY SPELL CHECKERS! EMAIL ANONYMOUSLY WITH YOUR DIRT OR FOR CONTACT! THIRTYMILESCORRUPTION@HOTMAIL.COM

Now a second complaint alleging violation of City Charter 407 came in, this time it’s against Councilman Paul Davis. Less than a week ago, a complaint came against Councilman Mike Soubirous. It seems that the powers that be continue in their attempt to get back to a 7-0 team player vote. We are assuming that the $16,000.00 Team Motivator/Psychologist isn’t working. It’s clear by the information provided, that Davis was targeted at least on two facts, the work performance of the City Manager Scott Barber and what Davis said in testimony in the Raychele Sterling Case, which may not have made the City Attorney Greg Priamos look so good.

COUNCILMAN PAUL DAVIS

When you view the overall pictorial of both Councilman, you cannot rule out a conspiratorial aspect by some of the usual suspects. Just weeks ago Chief Financial Officer Brent Mason presented to City Council and spoke on how we will have a budget shortfall. They continue to frivously spend tax payer monies in an effort to support their enormous egos and defend there inadvertent liabilities. We must also ask the question, who are the players and what could they have to lose.

Just in September of 2012, City Manager Scott Barber decided to take his City Manager hat off and play Council by authorizing a change order of $2.5 million without council authority for the Fox Performance Plaza. He brought the issue to Council and basically appeared they would rubber stamp the idea, after-the-fact. Had this type of shenanigans been done before by the prior City Manager? The City Manager’s discretionary spending cap is at $50,000.00, anything over that amount must go to council. Certainly violated the Charter Amendment. What made Barber think that he had the authority to act as an elect and ferret it out without them? A complaint should have been filed against him with Human Resources, and Council should have fired him immediately.

Though the Supreme Court stated that “a special edition created and sent to would-be voters, specifically because of the upcoming election,” is improper campaign activity. I guess Priamos does what is necessary for the greater good of those who feed off city revenues.

In both the Davis and Soubirous case, the PE reports that all emails have been requested in which referenced Barbers “employment status.” This is telling; what happened between these two council people and the City Manager? Another question, could it have been the connection between families which include Councilman Mac Arthur, Mayor Bailey and Albert Webb, of Webb Engineering? Webb contracts were brought in the Raychele Sterling Case.

We certainly would now have to consider if these city employees filed they’re complaints on the they’re own volition, or did they have encouragement, or were they promised promotion? Plausible denial by some of the usual suspects may give us more thought to a theoretical conspiracy in this matter.

Is it because Woody and Paul sing the same tune and dance the same steps? DA Mr. “Z” obviously is enjoying himself! Maybe we have something here folks, the dance styling”s of Woody & Paul…

TMC, RATED RIVERSIDE’S MOST “SLANDEROUS” AND MEZZSPELLED, “MISSPELLED” AND “OPINIONATED” BLOG SITE! TEMPORARILY BLOCKED BY THE CITY OF RIVERSIDE AT PUBLIC ACCESS SITES WITHIN THE CITY, THEN UNBLOCKED. I GUESS YOU CANNOT DO THAT ACCORDING TO ACLU. NOW TAGGED LOCAL BLOGGERS OR LOCAL MEDIA? RATED ONETWO ONE STAR OUT OF FIVE IN TERMS OF COMMUNITY APPROVAL RATINGS.. TMC IS NOW EXCLUSIVELY ON FILE WITH ZELLERBACH’S DISTRICT ATTORNEY’S OFFICE, AND PROSSIBLY POSSIBLY ON FILE WITH THE CITY OF RIVERSIDE’S POTENTIAL SLAPP SUIT LIST… WE WILL HAVE TO ASK GREGORY ABOUT THAT ONE ( OUR PEOPLE WILL HAVE TO CONTACT HIS PEOPLE)… AGAIN, THANK-YOU COMMUNITY OF RIVERSIDE AND THE CITY OF RIVERSIDE EMPLOYEE’S FOR YOUR SUPPORT! COMMENTS ALWAYS WELCOMED, ESPECIALLY SPELL CHECKERS! EMAIL ANONYMOUSLY WITH YOUR DIRT OR FOR CONTACT! THIRTYMILESCORRUPTION@HOTMAIL.COM